Get snapping for contest

Budding photographers from Ripley and Heanor are urged to get out into their local woods and capture those magical family moments as the Woodland Trust launches a special photo competition.

The charity has teamed up with Yorkshire Tea to launch the Say Trees! photography competition, and is encouraging families to visit their nearest wood and get snapping over the next few weeks.

The competition is open to all ages and abilities and the organisations are looking for entries which capture the spirit of family fun out in woods and trees.

Beccy Speight, Woodland Trust Chief Executive, said: “Summer’s almost here - a beautiful time to make the most of our woods – perhaps with a walk, a picnic or just having lots of fun exploring the great outdoors.

“We are looking to inspire people to capture these happy moments and send their best photos to us.

“We particularly want photos which show families enjoying woodland. Whether it’s a riverside walk, a den building expedition with the kids to your local woods or a weekend camping adventure, grab your camera, get snapping and upload your best efforts to the Woodland Trust website and don’t forget to ‘say trees!’”

Just 13 per cent of the UK is covered by woodland, which is one of the lowest amounts in the whole of Europe. The charity hopes to reconnect people with the great outdoors and remind them why it’s so special.

Kevin Sinfield from Yorkshire Tea, which is also funding 500,000 trees through the Woodland Trust across the UK through its Yorkshire Tree project, added: “This competition is a great way to encourage people to get outdoors and experience woodland areas. Our Yorkshire Tree campaign will see us plant one million trees over the next five years, and half of those will be through the Woodland Trust here in the UK. Through this, we want to educate the next generation on the importance of trees and encourage them to care about the same environmental issues we do.

Activities like this are a brilliant way to do that and we can’t wait to see all of the entries!”

Last year in the Woodland Trust’s Wild Summer competition, thousands of photographs were judged, featuring everything from inspiring ancient forests and colourful wildlife. Last year’s winner, Joaquim Pinho saw his shot used across national media.

People have until midnight on June 29 to upload a competition entry at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/saytrees.